Minn Post Launches
I’ve been watching with interest the buildup to the newest media Web site in Minnesota, MinnPost.com. My friend Heather Brown actually did a story on MinnPost back in August.
Today the site went live. I hesitate to offer much of a review in a publication’s first day, as I’m sure it will continue to evolve and change. MinnPost’s slogan is: “A Thoughtful Approach to News.” That’s a not so subtle dig at the rest of us who are utilizing a less-thoughtful approach.
Anyway, MinnPost wants to do journalism with a Capital-J. That’s great, and the more of that the better. However, outside of Doug Grow’s story on the DFL being in debt, the site bored me to tears. Cynthia Boyd wrote an interesting piece on an effort to match names to unnamed gravestones at the old Hastings State Hospital. But I think I’m so used to “info-snacking” on the web, I had a hard time sitting through what MinnPost calls “Posts”, which I think is supposed to be like a blog. (MinnPost hates using the word “blog” because it comes with the baggage that many people attach to blogs. Namely that bloggers are bloviators.) The “posts” were long and dull. Too newspapery. Not breezy enough.
I appreciate that MinnPost wants to provide an alternative to the daily newspapers. I’m not sure that reinventing the newspaper on the internet is a good idea. I’ll check back in on them and see what they’re up to, but it’s not quite doing it for me yet.
Other reviews: MNSpeak, Aaron Landry, Ed Kohler, Steve Yelvington. Lambert & Rybak.
Your thoughts? E-mail me as always.
(11/08/2007 Repost from WCCO-TV DeBlog)